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THE NEGROES AT POET ROYAL. 



E E P O E, T 



OF 



E. L. PIERCE, GOVERNMENT AGENT, 



TO THE 



HON. SALMON P. CHASE, 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 



a 






BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY R. F. WALLCUT, 

No. 221 WASHINGTON STREET. 

1862. 






1b Bxoiban|ro 
Cornell XJniv. 

2 F^b 06 



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"^ REPORT. 



Port Royal, February 3, 1862, 

To THE Hon. Salmon P. Chase, 

Secretary of the Treasury: 

Dear Sir, — My first communication to you was mailed 
on the third day after my arrival. The same day, I mailed 
two letters to benevolent persons in Boston, mentioned in my 
previous communications to you, asking for contributions of 
clothing, and for a teacher or missionary to be sent, to be 
supported by the charity of those interested in the movement, 
to both of which favorable answers have been received. The 
same day, I commenced a tour of the largest islands, and 
ever since have been diligently engaged in anxious examina- 
tions of the modes of culture — the amount and proportions 
of the products — the labor required for them — the life and 
disposition of the laborers upon them — their estimated num- 
bers — the treatment they have received from their former 
masters, both as to the labor required of them, the provisions 
and clothing allowed to them, and the discipline imposed — 
their habits, capacities, and desires, with special reference to 
• their being fitted for useful citizenship — and generally what- 
ever concerned the well-being, present and future, of the ter- 
ritory and its people. Visits have also been made to the 
communities collected at Hilton Head and Beaufort, and con- 
ferences held with the authorities, both naval and military, 
and other benevolent persons interested in the welfare of these 
people, and the wise and speedy reorganization of society 



4 THE NEGROES AT TORT ROYAL. 

here. No cue can be impressed more than myself with the 
uncertainty of conclusions drawn from experiences and reflec- 
tions gathered in so brief a period, however industriously 
and wisely occupied. Nevertheless, they may be of some 
service to those who have not been privileged with an equal 
opportunity. 

Of the plantations visited, full notes have been taken of 
seventeen, with reference to number of negroes in all ; of 
field hands; amount of cotton and corn raised, and how much 
per acre ; time and mode of producing and distributing ma- 
nure ; listing, planting, cultivating, picking and ginning cot- 
ton ; labor required of each hand ; allowance of food and 
clothing ; the capacities of the laborers ; their wishes and 
feelings, both as to themselves and their masters. Many of 
the above points could be determined by other sources, such 
as persons at the North familiar with the region, and publi- 
cations. The inquiries were, however, made with the double 
purpose of acquiring the information and testing the capacity 
of the persons inquired of. Some of the leading results of 
the examination will now be submitted. 

An estimate of the number of plantations open to cultiva- 
tion, and of the persons upon the territory protected by the 
forces of the United States, if only approximate to the truth, 
may prove convenient in providing a proper system of ad- 
ministration. The following islands are thus protected, and 
the estimated number of plantations upon each is given: — 



Port Royal, 


65 


St. Helena, 


. 50 


Ladies', .... 


30 


Hilton Head, . 


16 


Parry, including Horse, 


6 


Pinckuey, 


. 5 


Cat, .... 


] 


Eull, including Barratria, 


2 


Cane, .... 


1 


Daufuskie, 


. 5 


Datbaw, 


4 


Hutchinson and Femvick, 


6 


Coosaw, .... 


2 






Morgan, 


2 




195 



Or about two hundred in all. 

There are several other islands thus protected, without 
plantations, as Otter, Pritchard, Fripp, Hunting and Phillips. 
Lemon and Daw have not been explored by the agents en- 
gaged in collecting cotton. 

^ The populous island of North Edisto, lying in the direc- 
tion of Charleston, and giving the name to the finest cotton, is 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 

still visited by the rebels. A part near Botany Bay Island is 
commanded by the guns of one of our war vessels, under which 
a colony of one thousand negroes sought protection, where they 
have been temporarily subsisted from its stores. The num- 
ber has within a few days been stated to have increased to 
2300. Among these, great destitution is said to prevail. 
Even to this number, as the negroes acquire confidence in us, 
large additions are likely every week to be made. The whole 
island can be safely farmed as soon as troops can be spared 
for the purpose of occupation. But not counting the planta- 
tions of this island, the number on Port Royal, Ladies', St. 
Helena, Hilton Head, and the smaller islands, may be esti- 
mated at 200 plantations. 

In visiting the plantations, I endeavored to ascertain with 
substantial accuracy the number of persons upon them, with- 
out, however, expecting to determine the precise number. 
On that of Thomas Aston Coffin, at Coffin Point, St. Helena, 
there were 260, the largest found on any one visited. There 
were 130 on that of Dr. J. W. Jenkins, 120 on that of the 
Eustis estate, and the others range from 80 to 38, making an 
average of 81 to a plantation. These, however, may be 
ranked among the best peopled plantations, and forty to each 
may be considered a fair average. From these estimates, a 
population of 8000 negroes on the islands, now safely pro- 
tected by our forces, results. 

Of the 600 at the camp at Hilton Head, about one-half 
should be counted with the aforesaid plantations whence they 
have come. Of the 600 at Beaufort, one- third should also 
be reckoned with the plantations. The other fraction in each 
case should be added to the 8000 in computing the popula- 
tion now thrown on our protection. 

The negroes on Ladies' and St. Helena Islands have quite 
generally remained on their respective plantations, or if ab- 
sent, but temporarily, visiting wives or relatives. The dis- 
persion on Port Royal and Hilton Head Islands has been far 
greater, the people of the former going to Beaufort in con- 
siderable numbers, and of the latter to the camp at Hilton 
Head. 

Counting the negroes who have gone to Hilton Head and 
Beaufort from places now protected by our forces as still 
attached to the plantations, and to that extent not swelling 



O THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 

the 8000 on plantations, but adding thereto the usual negro 
population of Beaufort, as also the negroes who have fled 
to Beaufort and Hilton Head from places not yet occu- 
pied by our forces, and adding also the colony at North 
Edisto, and we must now have thrown upon our hands, for 
whose present and future we must provide, from 10,000 to 
12,000 persons — probably nearer the latter than the former 
number. This number is rapidly increasing. This week, 
forty-eight escaped from a single plantation near Graham- 
ville, on the main land, held by the rebels, led by the driver, 
and after four days of trial and peril, hidden by day and 
threading the waters with their boats by night, evading the 
rebel pickets, joyfully entered our camp at Hilton Head. 
The accessions at Edisto are in larger number, and according 
to the most reasonable estimates, it would only require small 
advances by our troops, not involving a general engagement 
or even loss of life, to double the number which would be 
brought within our lines. 

A fact derived from the Census of 1860 may serve to illus- 
trate the responsibility now devolving on the Government. 
This County of Beaufort had a population of slaves in* pro- 
portion of 82y8^ of the whole, — a proportion only ex- 
ceeded by seven other counties in. the United States, viz. : 
one in South Carolina, that of Georgetown ; three in Missis- 
sippi, those of Bolivar, Washington and Issequeua ; and 
three in Louisiana, those of Madison, Tensas and Concordia. 

An impression prevails that the negroes here have been 
less cared for than in most other rebel districts. If this be 
so, and a beneficent reform shall be achieved here, the experi- 
ment may anywhere else be hopefully attempted. 

The former white population, so far as can be ascertained, 
are rebels, with one or two exceptions. In January, 1861, a 
meeting of the planters on St. Helena Island was held, of 
which Thomas Aston Coffin was chairman. A vote was 
passed, stating its exposed condition, and oiFering their slaves 
to the Governor of South Carolina, to aid in building earth 
mounds, and calling on him for guns to place upon them. A 
copy of the vote, probably in his own handwriting, and signed 
by Mr. Coffin, was found in his house. 

It is worthy of note that the negroes now within our lines 
are there by the invitation of no one ; but they were on the 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 7 

soil when oiir army began its occupation, and could not have 
been excluded, except by violent transportation. A small 
proportion have come in from the main land, evading the 
pickets of the enemy and our own, — something easily done 
in an extensive country, with whose woods and creeks they 
are familiar. 

The only exportable crop of this region is the long staple 
Sea Island cotton, raised with more difficulty than the coarser 
kind, and bringing a higher price. The agents of the Trea- 
sury Department expect to gather some 2,500,000 pounds of 
ginned cotton the present year, nearly all of which had been 
picked and stored before the arrival of our forces. Consid- 
erable quantities have not been picked at all, but the crop for 
this season was unusually good. Potatoes and corn are 
raised only for consumption on the plantations, — corn being 
raised at the rate of only twenty-five bushels per acre. 

Such features in plantation life as will throw light on the 
social questions now anxiously weighed deserve notice. 

In this region, the master, if a man of wealth, is more 
likely to have his main residence at Beaufort, sometimes 
having none on the plantation, but having one for the driver, 
who is always a negro. He may, however, have one, and an 
expensive one, too, as in the case of Dr. Jenkins, at St. 
Helena, and yet pass most of his time at Beaufort, or at the 
North. The plantation in such cases is left almost wholly 
under the charge of an overseer. In some cases, there is not 
even a house for an overseer, the plantation being superin- 
tended by the driver, and being visited by the overseer liv^ing 
on another plantation belonging to the same owner. The 
houses for the overseers are of an undesirable character. 
Orchards of orange or fig trees are usually planted near 
them. 

The field hands are generally quartered at some distance — 
eighty or one hundred rods — from the overseer's or master's 
house, and are ranged in a row, sometimes in two rows, front- 
ing each other. They are sixteen feet by twelve, each appro- 
priated to a family, and in some cases divided with a parti- 
tition. They numbered, on the plantations visited, from ten 
to twenty, and on the Coffin plantation, they are double, num- 
bering twenty-three double houses, intended for forty-six fami- 
lies. '^The yards seemed to swarm with children, the negroes 
coupling at an early age. 



5 THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 

Except on Sundays, these people do not take their meals 
at a family table, but each one takes his hominy, bread, or 
potatoes, sitting on the floor or a bench, and at his own time. 
They say their masters never allowed them any regular time 
for meals. Whoever, under our new system., is charged with 
their superintendence, should see that they attend more to the 
cleanliness of their persons and houses, and that, as in fami- 
lies of white people, they take their meals together at a 
table — habits to which they will be more disposed when they 
• are provided with another change of clothing, and when bet- 
ter food is furnished and a proper hour assigned for meals. 

Upon each plantation visited by me, familiar conversations 
were had with several laborers, more or less, as time permit- 
ted — sometimes inquiries made of them, as they collected in 
groups, as to what they desired us to do with and for them, 
with advice as to the course of sobriety and industry which 
it was for their interest to pursue under the new and strange 
circumstances in which they were now placed. Inquiries as 
to plantation economy, the culture of crops, the implements 
still remaining, the number of persons in all, and of field 
hands, and the rations issued, were made of the drivers, as 
they are called, answering as nearly as the two different sys- 
tems of labor will permit to foremen on farms in the free 
States. There is one on each plantation — on the largest one 
visited, two. They still remained on each visited, and their 
names were noted. The business of the driver was to super- 
intend the field-hands generally, and see that their tasks were 
performed fully and properly. He controlled them, subject 
to the master or overseer. He dealt out the rations. Another 
office belonged to him. He was required by the master or 
overseer, whenever he saw fit, to inflict corporal punishment 
upon the laborers ; nor was he relieved from this office when 
the subject of discipline was his wife or children. In the 
absence of the master or overseer, he succeeded to much of 
their authority. As indicating his position of consequence, 
he was privileged with four suits of clothing a year, while 
only two were allowed to the laborers under him. It is evi- 
dent, from some of the duties assigned to him, that he must 
have been a person of considerable judgment and knowledge 
of plantation economy, not difi"ering essentially from that 
required of the foreman of a farm in the free States. He 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 9 

may be presumed to have known, in many cases, quite as 
much about the matters with which he was charged as the 
owner of the plantation, who often passed but a fractional 
part of his time upon it. 

The driver, notwithstanding the dispersion of other labor- 
ers, quite generally remains on the plantation, as already 
stated. He still holds the keys of the granary, dealing out 
the rations of food, and with the same sense of responsibility 
as before. In one case, I found him in a controversy with a 
laborer to whom he was refusing his peck of corn, because of 
absence with his wife an another plantation when the corn 
was gathered, — it being gathered since the arrival of our 
army. The laborer protested warmly that he had helped to 
plant and hoe the corn, and was only absent as charged be- 
cause of sickness. The driver appealed to me, as the only 
white man near, and learning from other laborers that the 
laborer was sick at the time of gathering, I advised the 
driver to give him his peck of corn, which he did accordingly. 
The ftict is noted as indicating the present relation of the 
driver to the plantation, where'he still retains something of 
his former authority. 

This authority is, however, very essentially diminished. 
The main reason is, as he will assure you, that he has now no 
white man to back him. Other reasons may, however, con- 
cur. A class of laborers are generally disposed to be jeal- 
ous of one of their own number promoted to be over them, 
and accordingly some negroes, evidently moved by this feel- 
ing, will tell you that the drivers ought now to work as field 
hands, and some field hands be drivers in their place. The 
driver has also been required to report delinquencies to the 
master or overseer, and upon their order to inflict corporal 
punishment. The laborers will, in some cases, say that he 
has been harder than he need to have been, while he will say 
that he did only what he was forced to do. The complain- 
ants who have suffered under the lash may be pardoned for 
not being sufficiently charitable to him who has unwillingly 
inflictedit, while, on the other hand, he has been placed in a 
dangerous position, where a hard nature, or self-interest, or 
dislfke for the victim, might have tempted him to be more 
cruel than his position required. The truth, in proportions 
impossible for us in many cases to fix, may lie with both par- 
1* 



10 THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 

ties. I am, on the whole, inclined to believe that the past 
position of the driver and his valuable knowledge, both of 
the plantations and the laborers, when properly advised and 
controlled, may be made available in securing the productive- 
ness of the plantations and the good of the laborers. It 
should be added that, in all cases, the drivers were found 
very ready to answer inquiries and communicate all informa- 
tion, and seemed desirous that the work of the season should 
be commenced. 

There are also on the plantations other laborers, more in- 
telligent than the average, such as the carpenter, the plow- 
man, the religious leader, who may be called a preacher, a 
watchman or a helper, — the two latter being recognized 
officers in the churches of these people, and the helpers being 
aids to the watchman. These persons, having recognized 
positions among their fellows, either by virtue of superior 
knowledge or devotion, when properly approached by us, may 
be expected to have a beneficial influence on the more igno- 
rant, and help to create that public opinion in ftivor of good 
conduct which, among the humblest as among the highest, is 
most useful. I saw many of very low intellectual develop- 
ment, but hardly any too low to be reached by civilizing 
influences, either coming directly from us or mediately 
through their brethren. And while I saw some who were 
sadly degraded, I met also others who were as fine specimens 
of human nature as one can ever expect to find. 

Beside attendance on churches on Sundays, there are eve- 
ning prayer-meetings on the plantations as often as once or 
twice a week, occupied with praying, singing, and exhorta- 
tions. In some cases, the leader can read a hymn, having 
picked up his knowledge clandestinely, either from other ne- 
groes or from white children. Of the adults, about one-half, 
at least, are members of churches, generally the Baptist, 
although other denominations have communicants among them. 
In the Baptist Church on St. Helena Island, which I visited 
on the 22d January, there were a few pews for the propor- 
tionally small number of white attendants, and the much 
larger space devoted to benches for colored people. On one 
plantation there is a negro chapel, well adapted for the pur- 
pose, built by the proprietor, the late Mis. Eustis, whose 
memory is cherished by the negroes, and some of whose sons 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 11 

are now 103^1! citizens of Massacliusetts. I have heard among 
the negroes scarcely any profane swearing- — not more than 
twice — a striking contrast with my experience among soldiers 
in the army. 

It seemed a part of my duty to attend some of their re- 
ligious meetings, and learn further about these people what 
could be derived from such a source. Their exhortations to 
personal piety were fervent, and, though their language was 
many times confused, at least to my ear, occasionally an im- 
portant instruction or a felicitous expression could be recog- 
nized. In one case, a preacher of their own, commenting on 
the text, " Blessed are the meek," exhorted his brethren not 
to be " stout-minded." On one plantation on Ladies' Island, 
where some thirty negroes were gathered in the evening, I 
read passages of Scripture, and pressed on them their prac- 
tical duties at the present time with reference to the good of 
themselves, their children, and their people. The passages 
read were the 1st and 23d Psalms; the 61st chapter of 
Isaiah, verses 1-4; the Beatitudes in the 5th chapter of 
Matthew; the 14th chapter of John's Gospel, and the 5tli 
chapter of the Epistle of James. In substance, I told them 
that their masters had rebelled against the Government, and 
we had come to put down the rebellion ; that we had now 
met them, and wanted to see what was best to do for them; 
that Mr. Lincoln, the President or Great Man at Washing- 
ton, had the whole matter in charge, and was thinking what 
he could do for them ; that the great trouble about doing 
anything for them was that their masters had always told us, 
and had made many people believe, that they were^ lazy, 
and would not work unless whipped to it ; that Mr. Lincoln 
had sent us down here to see if it was so ; that what they did 
was reported to him, or to men who would tell him ; that 
where I came from all were free, both white and black ; that 
we did not sell children or separate man and wife, but all 
had to work ; that if they were to be free, they would have 
to work, and would be shut up or deprived of privileges if 
they did not; that this was a critical hour with them, and if 
they did not behave well now and respect our agents and ap- 
pear willing to work, Mr. Lincoln would give up trying to 
do anything for them, and they must give up all hope for 
anything better, and their children and grand-children a hun- 



12 THE NEGROES AT TORT ROYAL. 

dred years hence would be worse oif than they had been. I 
told them they must stick to their plantations and not run 
about and get scattered, and assured them that what their 
masters had told them of our intentions to carry them oif to 
Cuba and sell them was a lie, and their masters knew it to 
be so, and vie wanted them to stay on the. plantations and 
raise cotton, and if they behaved well, they should have 
wages — small, perhaps, at first; that they should have bet- 
ter food, and not have their wives and children sold off; that 
their children should be taught to read and write, for which 
they might be willing to pay something ; that by-and-by they 
would be as well off as the white people, and we would stand 
by them against their masters ever coming back to take them. 
The importance of exerting a good influence on each other, 
particularly on the younger men, who were rather careless 
and roving, was urged, as all would suffer in good repute 
from the bad deeds of a few. At Hilton Head, where I spoke 
to a meetinor of two hundred, and there were facts callinor for 
the counsel, the women were urged to keep away from the 
bad white men, who would ruin them. Remarks of a like 
character were made familiarly on the plantations to such 
groups as gathered about. At the Hilton Head meeting, a 
good-looking man, who had escaped from the southern part 
of Barnwell District, rose and said, with much feeling, that 
he and many others should do all they could by good con- 
duct to prove what their masters said against them to be 
false, and to make Mr. Lincoln think better things of them. 
After the meeting closed, he desired to know if Mr. Lincoln 
was coming down here to see them, and he wanted me to give 
Mr. Lincoln his compliments, with his name, assuring the 
President that he would do all he could for him. The mes- 
sage was a little amusing, but it testified to the earnestness 
of the simple-hearted man. He had known Dr. Brisbane, 
who had been compelled some years since to leave the South 
because of his sympathy for slaves. The name of Mr. Lin- 
coln was used in addressing them, as more likely to impress 
them than the abstract idea of government. 

It is important to add that in no case have I attempted to 
excite them by insurrectionary appeals against their former 
masters, feeling that such a course might increase the trouble 
of organizing them into a peaceful and improving system, 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 



13 



under a just and healthful temporary discipline ; and besides 
that, it is a dangerous experiment to attempt the improve- 
ment of a class of men by appealing to their coarser nature. 
The better course toward making them our f\iithful allies, and 
therefore the constant enemies of the rebels, seemed to be to 
place before them the good things to be done for them and 
their children, and sometimes reading passages of Scripture 
appropriate to their lot, without, however, note or com- 
ment, never heard before by them, or heard only when wrested 
from their just interpretation ; such, for instance, as the last 
chapter of ' St. James's Epistle, and the Glad Tidings of 
Isaiah : " I have come to preach deliverance to the captive." 
Thus treated and thus educated, they may be hoped to become 
useful coadjutors, and the unconquerable foes of the fugitive 
rebels. 

There are some vices charged upon these people which de- 
serve examination. Notwithstanding their religious profes- 
sions, in some cases more emotional than practical, the mar- 
riaj^e relation, or what answers for it, is not, in many in- 
stances, held very sacred by them. The men, it is said, some- 
times leave one wife and take another, — something likely to 
happen in any society where it is permitted or not forbidden 
by a stern public opinion, and ftvr more likely to happen 
under laws which do not recognize marriage, and dissolve 
what answers for it by forced separations, dictated by the 
mere pecuniary interest of others. The women, it is said, 
are easily persuaded by white men, — a facility readily ac- 
counted for by the power of the master over them, whose 
solicitation was equivalent to a command, and against which 
the husband or father was powerless to protect, and increased 
also by the degraded condition in which they have been 
placed, where they have been apt to regard what ought to be 
a disgrace as a compliment, when they were approached by a 
paramour of superior condition and race. Yet often the dis- 
honor is felt, and the woman, on whose several children her 
master's features are impressed, and through whose veins his 
blood flows, has sadly confessed it with an instinctive blush. 
The grounds of this charge, so far as they may exist, will be 
removed, as much as in communities of our own race, by a 
system which shall recognize and enforce the marriage rela- 
tion among them, protect thera against the solicitations of 



14 THE NEGROES AT POr.T ROYAL, 

white men as much as law can, still more by putting them In 
relations were they will be inspired with self-respect and a 
consciousness of their rights, and taught by a pure and plain- 
spoken Christianity. 

In relation to the veracity of these people, so far as my 
relations with them has^e extended, they have appeared, as a 
class, to intend to tell the truth. Their manner, as much as 
amoncr white men, bore instinctive evidence of this intention. 
Their answers to inquiries relative to the management of the 
plantations have a general concurrence. They make no uni- 
versal charges of cruelty against their masters. They will 
say, in some cases, that their own wjis a very kind one, but 
another one in that neighborhood was cruel. On St. Helena 
Island they spoke kindly of " the good William Fripp," as 
they called him, and of Dr. Clarence Fripp; but they all 
denounced the cruelty of Alvira Fripp, recounting his inhu- 
man treatment of both men and women. Another concur- 
rence is worthy of note. On the plantations visited, it ap- 
peared from the statements of the laborers themselves, that 
there were, on an average, about 133 pounds of cotton pro- 
duced to the acre, and five acres of cotton and corn cultivated 
to a hand, the culture of potatoes not being noted. An arti- 
cle of the American Agriculturist, published in Turner's 
Cotton Manual, pp. 132, 133, relative to the culture of Sea 
Island Cotton, on the plantation of John H. Townsend, states 
that the land is cultivated in the proportion of 7-1 2th cotton, 
3-12ths corn, and 2-12ths potatoes — in all, less than six 
acres to a hand — and the average yield of cotton per acre is 
135 pounds. I did not take the statistics of the culture of 
potatoes, but about five acres are planted with them on the 
smaller plantations, and twenty, or even thirty, on the larger; 
and the average amount of land to each hand, planted with 
potatoes, should be added to the five acres of cotton and corn, 
and thus results not differing substantially are reached in 
both cases. Thus the standard publications attest the verac- 
ity and accuracy of these laborers. 

Again, there can be no more delicate and responsible posi- 
tion, involving honesty and skill, than that of pilot. For 
this purpose, these people are every day employed to aid our 
military and naval operations m navigating these sinuous 
channels. They were used in the recent reconnoisance in 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 



15 



the clirection of Savannah; and the success of the affair at 
Port Eoyal Ferry depended on the fidelity of a pilot, William, 
without the aid of whom, or of one like him, it could not 
have been undertaken. Further information on this point 
may be obtained of the proper authorities here. These 
services are not, it is true, in all respects, illustrative of the 
quality of veracity, but they involve kindred virtues not 
likely to exist without it. 

It is proper, however, to state that expressions are some- 
times heard from persons who have not considered these peo- 
ple thoughtfully, to the effect that their word is not to be 
trusted, and these persons, nevertheless, do trust them, and 
act upon their statements. There may, however, be some 
color for such expressions. These laborers, like all ignorant 
people, have an ill-regulated reason, too much under the con- 
trol of the imagination. Therefore, where they report the 
number of soldiers, or relate facts where there is room for 
conjecture, they are likely to be extravagant, and you must 
scrutinize their reports. Still, except among- the thoroughly 
dishonest, — no more numerous among them than in other 
races, — there will be found a colorable basis for their state- 
ments, enough to show their honest intention to speak truly. 

It is true also that you will find them too willing to ex- 
press feelings which will please you. This is most natural. 
All races, as well as all animals, have their appropriate 
means of self-defence, and where the power to use physical 
force to defend one's self is taken away, the weaker animal, 
or man, or race, resorts to cunning and duplicity. Whatever 
habits of this kind may appear in these people are directly 
traceable to the well-known features of their past condition, 
without involving any essential proneness to deception in the 
race, further than may be ascribed to human nature. Upon 
this point, special inquiries have been made of the Superm- 
tendent at Hilton Head, who is brought in direct daily asso- 
ciation with them, and whose testimony, truthful as he is, is 
worth far more than that of those who have had less nice 
opportunities of observation, and Mr. Lee certifies to^ the 
results here presented. Upon the question of the disposition 
of these people to work, there are different reports, varied 
somewhat by the impression an idle or an industrious laborer, 
brought into immediate relation with the witness, may have 



16 THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 

made on the miRcl. In conversations with them, they uni- 
formly answered to assurances that if free they must work, 
"Yes, massa, we must work to live; that's the law"; and 
expressing an anxiety that the work of the plantations was 
not going on. At Hilton Head, they are ready to do for Mr. 
Lee, the judicious Superintendent, whatever is desired. Hard 
words and epithets are, however, of no use in managing them, 
and other parties for whose service they are specially de- 
tailed, who do not understand or treat them properly, find 
some trouble in makino; their labor available, as miofht 
naturally be expected. In collecting cotton, it is sometimes, 
as I am told, difficult to get them together, when wanted for 
work. There may be something in this, particularly among 
the young men. I have observed them a good deal ; and 
though they often do not work to much advantage, — a dozen 
doing sometimes what one or two stout and well-trained 
Northern laborers would do, and though less must always be 
expected of persons native to this soil than those bred in 
Northern latitudes, and under more bracings air, — 1 have not 
been at all impressed with their general indolence. As 
servants, oarsmen, and carpenters, I have seen them working 
faithfully and with a will. There are some peculiar circum- 
stances in their condition, which no one who assumes to sit in 
judgment upon them must overlook. They are now, for the 
first time, freed from the restraint of a master, and like 
children whose guardian or teacher is absent for the day, 
they may quite naturally enjoy an interval of idleness. No 
system of labor for them, outside of the camps, has been 
begun, and they have had nothing to do except to bale the 
cotton when bagging was furnished, and we all know that 
men partially employed are, if anything, less disposed to do 
the little assigned them than they are to perform the full 
measure which belongs to them in regular life, the virtue of 
the latter case being supported by habit. At the camps, they 
are away from their accustomed places of labor, and have 
not been so promptly paid as could be desired, and are ex- 
posed to the same circumstances which often dispose soldiers 
to make as little exertion as possible. In the general chaos 
which prevails, and before the inspirations of labor have 
been set before them by proper superintendents and teachers 
who understand their disposition, and show by their conduct 



REPORT OF TUE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 17 

an interest in their welfare, no humane or reasonable man 
would subject them to austere criticism, or make the race 
responsible for the delinquencies of an idle person, who hap- 
pened to be brought particularly under his own observation. 
Not thus would we have ourselves or our own race judged ; 
and the judgment which we would not have meted to us, let 
us not measure to others. 

Upon the best examination of these people, and a compari- 
son of the evidence of trustworthy persons, I believe that 
when properly organized, and with proper motives set before 
them, they will, as freemen, be as industrious as any race of 
men are likely to be in this climate. 

The notions of the sacredness of property as held by these 
people have sometimes been the subject of discussion here. 
It is reported they have taken things left in their masters' 
houses. It was wise to prevent this, and even where it had 
been done to compel a restoration, at least of expensive arti- 
cles, lest they should be injured by speedily acquiring, with- 
out purchase, articles above their condition. But a moment's 
reflection will show that it was the most natural thing for 
them to do. They had been occupants of the estates ; had 
had these things more or less in charge, and when the former 
owners had left, it was easy for them to regard their title to 
the abandoned property as better than that of strangers. 
Still, it is not true that they have, except as to very simple 
arti(?les, as soap or dishes, generally availed themselves of 
such property. It is also stated that in camps where they 
have been destitute of clothing, they have stolen from each 
other, but the Superintendents are of opinion that they would 
not have done this if already well provided. Besides, those 
familiar with large bodies collected together, like soldiers in 
camp life, also know how often these charges of mutual pil- 
fering are made among them, often with great injustice. It 
should be added, to complete the statement, that the agents 
who have been intrusted with the collection of cotton have 
reposed confidence in the trustworthiness of the laborers, 
committing property to their charge — a confidence not found 
to have been misplaced. 

To what extent these laborers desire to be free, and to 
serve us still further in putting down the rebellion, has been 
a subject of examination. The desire to be free has been 



1« 



THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL, 



strongly expressed, particularly among the more intelligent 
and adventurous. Every day, almost, adds a fresh tale of 
escapes, both solitary and in numbers, conducted with a 
courage, a forecast, and a skill, worthy of heroes. But there 
are other apparent features in their disposition which it would 
be untruthful to conceal. On the plantations, I often found 
a disposition to evade the inquiry whether they wished to be 
free or slaves ; and though a preference for freedom was ex- 
pressed, it was rarely in the passionate phrases which would 
come from an Italian peasant. The secluded and monotonous 
life of a plantation, with strict discipline and ignorance 
enforced by law and custom, is not favorable to the develop- 
ment of the richer sentiments, though even there they find at 
least a stunted growth, irrepressible as they are. The inquiry 
was often answered in this. way: "The white man do what 
he pleases with us ; we are yours now, massa." One, if I 
understood his broken words rightly, said that he did not 
care about being free, if he only had a good master. Others 
said they would like to be free, but they wanted a white man 
for a " protector." All of proper age, when inquired of, 
expressed a desire to have their children taught to read and 
write, and to learn themselves. On this point, they showed 
more earnestness than on any other. When asked if they 
were willing to fight, in case we needed them, to keep their 
masters from coming back, they would seem to shrink from 
that, saying that " black men have been kept down so like 
dogs that they would run before white men." At the close 
of the first week's observation, I almost concluded that on 
the plantation there was but little earnest desire for freedom, 
and scarcely any willingness for its sake to encounter white 
men. But as showing the importance of not attempting to 
reach general conclusioas too hastily, another class of facts 
came to my notice the second week. I met then some more 
intelligent, who spoke with profound earnestness of their 
desire to be free, and how they had longed to see this day. 
Other facts, connected with the military and naval operations, 
were noted. At the recent reconnoisance toward Pulaski, 
pilots of this class stood well under the fire, and were not 
reluctant to the service. When a district of Ladies' Island 
was left exposed, they voluntarily took such guns as they 
could procure, and stood sentries. Also at North Edisto, 



REPORT OF TUE GOVERNMENT AGENT, 



19 



where the colony is collected under the protection of our 
gunboats, they armed themselves and drove back the rebel 
cavalry. An officer here high in command reported to me 
some of these facts, which had been officially communicated 
to him. The suggestion may be pertinent that the persons 
in question are divisible into two classes. Those who, by 
their occupation, have been accustomed to independent labor, 
and schooled in some sort of self-reliance, are more developed 
in this direction ; while others, who have been bound to the 
routine of plantation life, and kept more strictly under 
surveillance, are but little awakened. But even among these 
last there has been, under the quickening inspiration of 
present events, a rapid development, indicating that the same 
feeling is only latent. 

There is another consideration which must not be- omitted. 
Mai^y of these people have still but little confidence in us, 
anxiously looking to see what is to be our disposition of them, 
It is a mistake to suppose that, separated "from the world, 
never having read a Northern book or newspaper relative to 
them, or talked with a Northern man expressing the sen- 
timents prevalent in his region, they are universally and 
with entire confidence welcoming us as their deliverers. 
Here, as everywhere else, where our army has met them, 
they have been assured by their masters that we were going 
to carry them off to Cuba. There is probably not a rebel 
master, from the Potomac to the Gulf, who has not repeatedly 
made this assurance to his slaves. No matter what his re- 
ligious vows may have been, no matter what his professed 
honor as a gentleman, he has not shrunk from the reiteration 
of this falsehood. Never was there a people, as all who 
know them will testify, more attached to familiar places 
than they. Be their home a cabin, and not even that cabin 
their own, they still cling to it. The reiteration could not 
fail to have had some effect on a point on which they were so 
sensitive. Often it must have been met with unbelief or 
great suspicion of its truth. It was also balanced by the 
consideration that their masters would remove them into the 
interior, and perhaps to a remote region, and separate their 
families, about as bad as being taken to Cuba, and they felt 
more inclined to remain on the plantations, and take their 
chances with us. They have told me that they reasoned in 



'20 TUE NEGROES AT TORT ROYAL. 

this way. But in many cases they fled at the approach of 
our array. Then one or two bolder returning, the rest were 
reassured and came back. Recently, the laborers at Parry 
Island, seeing some schooners approaching suspiciously, com- 
menced gathering their little eflfects rapidly together, and 
were about to run, when they were quieted by some of our 
teachers coming, in whom they had confidence. In some 
cases, their distrust has been increased by the bad conduct of 
some irresponsible white men^ of which, for the honor of 
human nature, it is not best to speak more particularly. On 
the whole, their confidence in us has been greatly increased 
by the treatment they have received, which, in spite of many 
individual cases of injury less likely to occur under the strin- 
gent orders recently issued from the naval and military 
authorities, has been generally kind and humane. But the 
distrust which to a greater or less extent ma}^ have existed 
on our arrival, renders necessary, if we would keep them 
faithful allies, and not informers to the enemy, the imme- 
diate adoption of a system which shall be a pledge of our 
protection and of our permanent interest in their welfare. 

The manner, of the laborers toward us has been kind and 
deferential, doing for us such good offices as were in their 
power, as guides, pilots, or in more personal service, inviting 
us on the plantations to lunch of hominy and milk, or pota- 
toes, touching the hat in courtesy, and answering politely 
such questions as were addressed to them. If there have 
been exceptions to this rule, it was in the case of those whose 
bearing did not entitle them to the civility. 

Passing from general phases of character or present dis- 
position, the leading facts in relation to the plantations and 
the mode of renderino; them useful and determinino; what is 
best to be done, come next in order. 

The laborers on St. Helena and Ladies' Islands very gen- 
erally remain on their respective plantations. This fact, 
arising partially from local attachment and partially because 
they can thus secure their allowance of corn, is important, as 
it will facilitate their reorganization. Some are absent, tem- 
porarily visiting a wife, cy relative, on another plantation, 
and returning periodically for their rations. The disposition 
to roam, so f\ir as it exists, mainly belongs to the younger 
people. On Port Ivoyal and Hilton Head Islands, there is 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 21 

a much greater dispersion, clue in part to their haying been 
the scene of more active military movements, and in part to 
the taking in greater measure on these islands of the means 
of subsistence from the plantations. When the work re- 
commences, howo^-er, there is not likely to be any indisposi- 
tion to return to them. 

The statistics with regard to the number of laborers, field 
hands, acres planted to cotton and corn, are not presented as 
accurate statements, but only as reasonable approximations, 
which may be of service. 

The highest number of people on any plantation visited 
was on Coffin's, where there are 260. Those on the planta- 
tion of Dr. Jenkins number 130; on that of the Eustis 
estate, 120 ; and the others, from 80 to 38. The average 
number on each is 81. The field hands range generally from 
one-third to one-half of the number, the rest being house 
servants, old persons, and children. About five acres of cot- 
ton and corn are planted to a hand ; and to potatoes, about 
five acres in all were devoted on the smaller plantations, and 
from twenty to thirty on the larger. 

The number of pounds in a bale of ginned cotton ranges 
from 300 to 400 — the average number being not far from 
315 pounds per bale. The average yield per acre on fifteen 
plantations was about 133 pounds. 

The material for compost is gathered in the periods of most 
leisure — often in July and August, after the cultivation of 
the cotton- plant is ended, and before the picking has com- 
menced. Various materials are used, but quite generally 
mud and the coarse marsh grass, which abounds on the creeks 
near the plantations, are employed. The manure is carted 
upon the land in January and February, and left in heaps, 
two or three cart-loads on each task, to be spread at the time 
of listing. The land, by prevailing custom, lies fallow a 
year. The cotton and corn are planted in elevated rows or 
beds. The next step is the listing, done with the hoe, and 
making the bed where the alleys were at the previous raising 
of the crop, and the alleys being made where the beds were 
before. In this process, half the old bed is hauled into the 
alley on the one side, and the other half into the alley on 
the other. This work is done mainly in February, being 
commenced sometimes the last of January. A "task" is 



U2 THE NEGROES AT POUT ROYAL. 

105 feet square, and contains twentj-one or twenty-two beds 
or rows. Each laborer is required to list a task and a half, 
or if the land is moist and heavy, a task and five or seven 
beds, say one-fourth or three-eighths of an acre. 

The planting of cotton commences about the 20th or last of 
March, and of corn about the same time or earlier. It is 
continued through April, and by some planters it is not begun 
till April. The seeds are deposited in the beds, a foot or a 
foot and a half apart on light land, and two feet apart on 
heavy land, and five or ten seeds left in a place. After the 
plant is growing, the stalks are thinned so as to leave to- 
gether two on high land and one on low or rich land. The 
hoeing of the early cotton begins about the time that the plant- 
ing of the late has ended. The plant is cultivated with the 
hoe and plow during May, June and July, keeping the w^eeds 
down and thinning the stalks. The picking commences the 
last of August. The cotton being properly dried in the 
sun, is then stored in houses, ready to be ginned. The gin- 
nino;, or cleanino; the fibre from the seed, is done either by 
gins operated by steam, or by the well-known foot-gms — the 
latter turning out about 30 pounds of ginned cotton per day, 
and worked by one person, assisted by another, who picks 
out the specked and yellow cotton. The steam-engine carries 
one or more gins, each turning out 300 pounds per day, and 
requiring eight or ten hands to tend the engine and gins, 
more or less, according to the number of the gins. The foot- 
gins are still more used than the gins operated by steam, — the 
latter being used mainly on the largest plantations, on which 
both kinds are sometimes employed. I have preserved notes 
of the kind and number of gins used on the plantations vis- 
ited, but it is unnecessary to give them here. Both kinds 
can be run entirely by the laborers, and after this year, the 
ginning should be done entirely here — among other reasons, 
to avoid transportation of the seed, which makes nearly three- 
fourths of the weight of the unginned cotton, and to preserve 
in better condition the seed required for planting. 

The allowance of clothing to the field hands in this dis- 
trict has been two suits per year, one for summer and another 
for winter. That of food has been mainly vegetable — a 
peck of corn a week to each hand, with meat only in June, 
when the work is hardest, and at Christmas. No meat was 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 28 

allowed in June, on some plantations, while on a few, more 
liberal, it was dealt out occasionally — as once a fortnight, or 
once a month. On a few, molasses was given at intervals. 
Children, varying with their ages, were allowed from two to 
six quarts of corn per week. The diet is more exclusively 
vegetable here than almost anywhere in the rebellious regions, 
and in this respect should be changed. It should be added, 
that there are a large quantity of oysters available for food 
in proper seasons. 

Besides the above rations, the laborers were allowed each 
to cultivate a small patch of ground, about a quarter of an 
acre, for themselves, when their work for their master was 
done. On this, corn and potatoes, chiefly the former, were 
planted. The corn was partly eaten by themselves, thus sup- 
plying in part the deficiency in rations ; but it was, to a 
great extent, fed to a pig, or chickens, each hand being 
allowed to keep a pig and chickens or ducks, but not geese or 
turkeys. With the* proceeds of the pig and chickens, gen- 
erally sold 'to the masters, and at pretty low rates, extra 
clothing, coffee, sugar, and that necessary of life with these 
people, as they think, tobacco, were bought. 

■ In the report thus far, such facts in the condition of the 
territory now occupied by the forces of the United States 
have been noted as seemed to throw light on what could be 
done to reorganize the laborers, prepare them to become 
sober and self-supporting citizens, and secure the successful 
culture of a cotton-crop, now so necessary to be contributed 
to the markets of the world. It will appear from them that 
these people are naturally religious and simple-hearted — at- 
tached to the places where they have lived, still adhering to 
them both from a feeling of local attachment and self-interest 
in securing the means of subsistence ; that they have the 
knowledge and experience requisite to do all the labor, from 
the preparation of the ground for planting until the cotton is 
baled, ready to be exported ; that they, or the great mass of 
them, are disposed to labor, with proper inducements thereto ; 
that they lean upon white men, and desire their protection, 
and could, therefore, under a wise system, be easily brought 
under subordination ; that they are susceptible to the higher 
considerations, as duty, and the love of offspring, and are not 
in any way inherently vicious, their defects coming from their 



24 THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL, 

peculiar condition in the past or present, and not from con- 
stitutional proneness to evil beyond what may be attributed 
to human nature ; that they have among them natural chiefs, 
either by virtue of religious leadership or superior intelli- 
gence, who, being first addressed, may exert a healthful influ- 
ence on the rest. In a word, that, in spite of their condi- 
tion, reputed to be worse here than in many other parts of 
the rebellious region, there are such features in their life and 
character, that the opportunity is now oflored to us to make 
of them, partially in this generation, and fully in the next, 
a happy, industrious, law-abiding, free and Christian people, 
if we have but the courage and patience to accept it. If 
this be the better view of them and their possibilities, I will 
say that I have come to it after anxious study of all pecu- 
liar circumstances in their lot and character, and after anxious 
conference with reflecting minds here, who are prosecuting 
like inquiries, not overlooking what, to a casual spectator, 
might appear otherwise, and granting what is likely enough, 
that there are those among them whose characters, by reason 
of bad nature or treatment, are set, and not admitting of 
much improvement. And I will submit further, that, in 
common fairness and common charity, when, by the order of 
Providence, an individual or a race is committed to our care, 
the better view is entitled to be first practically applied. If 
this one shall be accepted and crowned with success, history 
will have the glad privilege of recording that this wicked 
and unprovoked rebellion was not without compensations most 
welcome to our race. 

What, then, should be the true system of administration 
here? 

It has been proposed to lease the plantations and the peo- 
ple upon them. To this plan there are two objections — each 
conclusive. In the first place, the leading object of the par- 
ties bidding for leases would be to obtain a large immediate 
revenue — perhaps to make a fortune in a year or two. The 
solicitations of doubtful men, off"ering the highest price, would 
impose on the leasing power a stern duty of refusal, to which 
it ought not unnecessarily to be subjected. Far better a sys- 
tem which shall not invite such men to harass the leasing 
power, or excite expectations of a speedy fortune, to be de- 
riv^ed from the labor of this people. Secondly : No man, 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 25 

not even the best of men, charged with the duties which 
ought to belong to the guardians of these people, should be 
put in a position where there would be such a conflict be- 
tween his humanity and his self-interest — his desire, on the 
one hand, to benefit the laborer, and, on the other, the too 
often stronger desire to reap a large revenue — perhaps to 
restore broken fortunes in a year or two. Such a system is 
beset with many of the worst vices of the slave' system, with 
one advantage in favor of the latter, that it is for the interest 
of the planter to look to permanent results. Let the history 
of British East India, and of all communities where a supe- 
rior race has attempted to build up speedy fortunes on the 
labor of an inferior race occupying another region, be remem- 
bered, and no just man will listen to the proposition of leas- 
ing, fraught as it is with such dangerous consequences. Per- 
sonal confidence forbids me to report the language of intense 
indignation which has been expressed against it here by some 
occupying high places of command, as also by others who 
have come here for the special purpose of promoting the wel- 
fare of these laborers. Perhaps it might yield to the treasury 
a larger immediate revenue, but it would be sure to spoil the 
country and its people in the end. The Government should 
be satisfied if the products of the territory may be made 
sufficient for a year or two to pay the expenses of adminis- 
tration and superintendence, and the inauguration of a be- 
neficent system which will settle a great social question, en- 
sure the sympathies of foreign nations, now wielded against 
us, and advance the civilization of the age. 

The better course would be to appoint superintendents for 
each large plantation, and one for two or three smaller com- 
bined, compensated with a good salary, say $1,000 per year, 
selected with reference to peculiar qualifications, and as care- 
fully as one would choose a guardian for his^children, clothed 
with an adequate power to enforce a paternal discipline, to 
require a proper amount of labor, cleanliness, sobriety, and 
better habits of life, and generally to promote the moral and 
intellectual culture of the wards, with such other induce- 
ments, if there be any, placed before the superintendent as 
shall inspire him to constant eiForts to prepare them for use- 
ful and worthy citizenship. To quicken and ensure the fidel- 
ity of the superintendents, there should a director-general or 
2 



26 THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 

governor, who shall visit the plantations, and see that they 
are discharging these duties, and, if necessary, he should be 
aided by others in the duty of visitation. This officer should 
be invested with liberal powers over all persons within his 
jurisdiction, so as to protect the blacks from each other and 
from white men, being required in most important cases to 
confer with the military authorities in punishing offences. 
His proposed duties indicate that he should be a man of the 
best ability and character : better if he have already, by vir- 
tue of public services, a hold on the public confidence. Such 
an arrangement is submitted as preferable for the present to 
any cuinbersome territorial government. 

The laborers themselves, no longer slaves of their former 
masters, or of the Government, but as yet in large numbers 
unprepared for the full privileges of citizens, are to be treated 
with sole reference to such preparation. No effort is to be 
spared to work upon their better nature and the motives 
which come from it — the love of wages, of offspring, and 
family, the desire of happiness, and the obligations of re- 
ligion. And when these fail, — and fail they will, in some 
cases, — we must not hesitate to resort, not to the lash, for 
as from the department of war so also from the department 
of labor, it must be banished, but to the milder and more 
effective punishments of deprivation of privileges, isolation 
from family and society, the workhouse, or even the prison. 
The laborers are to be assured at the outset that parental and 
conjugal relations among them are to be protected and en- 
forced ; that children, and all others desiring, are to be 
taught; th'at they will receive wages; and that a certain just 
measure of work, with reference to the ability to perform it, 
if not willingly rendered, is to be required of all. The 
work, so far as the case admits, shall be assigned in proper 
tasks, the standard being what a healthy person of average 
capacity can do, for which a definite sum is to be paid. The 
remark may perhaps be pertinent, that, whatever may have 
been the case with women or partially disabled persons, my 
observations, not yet sufficient to decide the point, have not 
impressed me with the conviction that healthy persons, if 
they had been provided with an adequate amount of food, 
and that animal in due proportion, could be said to have been 
overworked heretofore on these islands, the main trouble hav- 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 27 

ing been tliat they have not been so provided, and have not 
had the motives which smooth labor. Notwithstanding the 
frequent and severe chastisements which have been employed 
here in exacting labor, they have failed, and naturally enough, 
of their intended effects. Human beings are made up of so 
much more of spirit than of muscle, that compulsory labor, 
enforced by physical pain, will not exceed or equal, in the 
long run, voluntary labor with just inspirations; and the 
same law in less degree may be seen in the difference between 
the value of a whi23ped and jaded beast, and one well disci- < 
plined and kindly treated. 

AYhat should be the standard of wages where none have 
heretofore been paid, is less easy to determine. It should be 
graduated with reference to the wants of the laborer and the 
ability of the eaiployer or Grovernment ; and this ability 
being determined by the value of the products of the labor, 
and the most that should be expected being, that for a year 
or two the system should not he a burden on the Treasury. 
Taking into consideration the cost of food and clothing, med- 
ical attendance and extras, supposing that the laborer would 
require rations of pork or beef, meal, coffee, sugar, molasses 
aiid tobacco, and that he would work 300 days in the year, 
he should receive about forty cents a day in order to enable 
him to lay up $30 a year; and each healthy woman could do 
about equally well. Three hundred days in a year is, per- 
haps, too high an estimate of working days, when we con- 
sider the chances of sickness and days when, by reason of 
storms and other causes, there would be no work. It is 
assumed that the laborer is not to pay rent for the small 
house tenanted by him. This sum, when the average number 
of acres cultivated by a hand, and the average yield per acre 
are considered with reference to market prices, or when the ex- 
pense of each laborer to his former master, the interest on his 
assumed value and on the value of the land worked by him, — ■ 
these being the elements of what it has cost the master before 
making a profit, — are computed, the Government could afford 
to pay, leaving an ample margin to meet the cost of the neces- 
sary implements, as well as of superintendence and adminis- 
tration. The fiojures on which this estimate is based are at 
the service of the Department if desired. It must also be 
borne m mind that the plantations will in the end be carried 



28 



THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 



on more scientifically and cheaply than before, the plough 
taking very much the place of the hoe, and other imple- 
ments being introduced to facilitate industry and increase the 
productive power of the soil. 

It being important to preserve all former habits which are 
not objectionable, the laborer should have his patch of ground 
on which to raise corn or vegetables for consumption or sale. 

As a part of the plan proposed, missionaries will be needed 
to address the religious element of a race so emotional in 
their nature, exhorting to all practical virtues, and inspiring 
the laborers with a religious zeal for faithful labor, the good 
nurture of their children, and for clean and healthful habits. 
The benevolence of the Free States, now being directed 
hither, will gladly provide these. The Government should, 
however, provide some teachers specially devoted to teaching 
reading, writing and arithmetic, say some twenty-five, for the 
territory now occupied by our forces, and private benevolence 
might even be relied on for these. 

The plan proposed is, of course, not presented as an ulti- 
mate result : far from it. It contemplates a paternal disci- 
pline for the time being, intended for present use only, with 
the prospect of better things in the future. As fast as the 
laborers show themselves fitted for all the privileges of citi- 
zens, they should be dismissed from the system and allowed 
to follow any employment they please, and where they please. 
They should have the power to acquire the fee simple of land, 
either with the proceeds of their labor or as a reward of 
special merit ; and it would be well to quicken their zeal for 
good behavior by proper recognitions. I shall not follow 
these suggestions, as to the future, further, contenting myself 
with indicating what is best to be done at once with a class of 
fellow-beings now thrown on our protection, entitled to be 
recognized as freemen, but for whose new condition the former 
occupants of the territory have diligently labored to unfit 
them. 

But whatever is thought best to be done, should be done 
at once. A system ought to have been commenced with the 
opening of the year. Beside that, demoralization increases 
with delay. The months of January and February are the 
months for preparing the ground by manuring and listing, 
and the mouths of March and April are for planting. Al- 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 29 

ready, important time has passed, and in a very few weeks it 
will be too late to prepare for a crop, and too late to assign 
useful work to the laborers for a year to come. I implore 
the immediate intervention of your Department to avert the 
calamities which must ensue from a further postponement. 

There is another precaution most necessary to be taken. 
As much as possible, persons enlisted in the army and navy 
should be kept separate from these people. The association 
produces an unhealthy excitement in the latter, and there are 
other injurious results to both parties which it is unnecessary 
to particularize. In relation to this matter, I had an inter- 
view with the Flag-Officer, Com. Dupont, which resulted in 
an order that " no boats from any of the ships of the squad- 
ron can be permitted to land anywhere but at Bay Point and 
Hilton Head, without a pass from the Fleet Captain," and 
requiring the commanding officers of the vessels to give 
special attention to all intercourse between the men^ under 
their command and the various plantations in their vicinity. 
Whatever can be accomplished to that end by this humane 
and gallant officer, who' superadds to skill and courage in his 
profession the liberal views of a statesman, will not be left 
undone. The suggestion should also be made that, when em- 
ployment is given to this people, some means should be taken 
to enable them to obtain suitable goods at fair rates, and pre- 
cautions taken to prevent the introduction of ardent spirits 
among them. 

A loyal citizen of Massachusetts, Mr. Frederick A. Eustis, 
has recently arrived here. He is the devisee in a considera- 
ble amount under the will of the late .Mrs. Eustis, who owned 
the large estate on Ladies' Island, and also another at Poco- 
taligo, the latter not yet in possession of our forces. The 
executors are rebels, and reside at Charleston. Mr. Eustis 
has as yet received no funds . by reason of the devise. There 
are two other loyal devisees and some other devisees resident 
in rebellious districts, and the latter are understood to have 
received dividends. Mr. Eustis is a gentleman of humane 
and liberal views, and, accepting the present condition of 
things, desires that the people on these plantations should not 
be distinguished from their brethren on others, but equally 
admitted to their better fortunes. The circumstances of this 
case, though of a personal character, may furnish a useful 
2* 



80 THE NEGROES AT POUT ROYAL. 

precedent. With great pleasure and confidence, I recom- 
mend that this loyal citizen be placed in charge of the planta- 
tion on Ladies' Island, which he is willing to accept — the 
questions of property and rights under the will being reserved 
for subsequent determination. 

A brief statement in relation to the laborers collected at 
the camps at Hilton Head and Beaufort may be desirable. 
At both places, they are under the charge of the Quarter- 
master's Department. At Hilton Head, Mr. Barnard K. 
Lee, Jr., of Boston, is the Superintendent, assisted by Mr. 
J. D. McMath of Alleghany City, Penn., both civilians. 
The appointment of Mr. Lee is derived from Captain R. Sax- 
ton, Chief Quartermaster of the Expeditionary Corps, a 
humane officer, who is deeply interested in this matter. The 
number at this camp are about 6€0, the registered number 
under Mr. Lee being 472, of which 137 are on the pay-roll. 
Of these 472, 279 are fugitives from the main land, or other 
points, still held by the rebels ; 77 are from Hilton Head 
Island ; 62 from the adjacent island of Pinckney ; 38 from 
St. Helena ; 8 from Port Royal ; 7 from Spring, and one 
from Daufuskie. Of the 472, the much larger number, it 
will be seen, have sought refuge from the places now held by 
rebels; while the greater proportion of the remainder came 
in at an early period, before they considered themselves safe 
elsewhere. Since the above figures were given, forty-eight 
more, all from one plantation, and under the lead of the 
driver, came in together from the main land. Mr. Lee was 
appointed November 10th last, with instructions to assure the 
laborers that they would be paid a reasonable sum for their 
services, not yet fixed. They were contented with the assur- 
ance, and a quantity of blankets and clothing captured of 
the rebels was issued to them without charge. About De- 
cember 1st, an order was given that carpenters should be paid 
$8 per month, and other laborers $5 per month. "Women 
and children were fed without charge, the women obtaining 
washing and receiving the pay, in some cases in considerable 
sums, not, however, heretofore, very available, as there was 
no clothino; for women for sale here. It will be seen that, 
under the order, laborers, particularly those with families, 
have been paid with sufficient liberality. There were 63 
laborers on the pay-roll on December 1st, and $101.50 were 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 31 

paid to them for the preceding month. On January 1st, 
there were for the preceding month 127 on the pay-roll, en- 
titled to $468.59. On February 1st, there were for the pre- 
ceding month 137 on the pay-roll, entitled to something more 
than for the month of January ; making in all due them not 
far from 81000. This delay of payment, due, it is stated, 
to a deficiency o*f small currency, has made the laborers 
uneasy, and affected the disposition to work. 

On January 18th, a formal order was issued by Genei-al 
Sherman, regulating the rate of wages, varying from $12 to 
$8 per month for mechanics, and from $8 to $4 for other 
laborers. Under it, each laborer is to have, in addition, a 
ration of food. But from the monthly pay are to be de- 
ducted rations for his family, if here, and clothing both for 
himself and family. Commodious barracks have been erected 
for these people, and a guard protects their quarters. 

I have been greatly impressed by the kindness and good 
sense of Mr. Lee and his assistant, in their discipline of these 
people. The lash, let us give thanks, is banished at last. 
No coarse words or profanity are used toward them. There 
has been less than a case of discipline a week, and the delin- 
quent, if a male, is sometimes made to stand on a barrel, or, 
if a woman, is put in a dark room, and such discipline has 
proved successful. The only exception, if any, is in the case 
of one woman, and the difficulty there was conjugal jealousy, 
she protesting that she was compelled by her master, against 
her will, to live with the man. 

There is scarcely any profanity among them, more than 
one-half of the adults being members of churches. Their 
meetings are held twice or three times on Sundays, also on 
the evenings of Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. They are 
conducted with fervent devotion by themselves alone or in 
presence of a white clergyman, when the services of one are 
procurable. They close with what is called " a glory shout," 
one joining hands with another, together in couples singing a 
verse and beating time with the foot. A fastidious religionist 
might object to this exercise ; but being in accordance with 
usage, and innocent enough in itself, it is not open to excep- 
tion. As an evidence of the effects of the new system in in- 
spiring self-reliance, it should be noted that the other evening 
they called a meeting of their own accord, and voted, the 



32 THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 

motion being regularly made and put, that it was now but 
just that they should provide the candles for their meetings, 
hitherto provided by the Government. A collection was 
taken at a subsequent meeting, and $2.48 was the result. 
The incident may be trivial, but it justifies a pleasing infer- 
ence. No school, it is to be regretted, has yet been started, 
except one on Sundays, but the call for reading books is daily 
made by the laborers. The suggestion of Mr. Lee, in which 
I most heartily concur, should not be omitted — that with the 
commencement of the work on the plantations, the laborers 
should be distributed upon them, having regard to the family 
relations and the places whence they come. 

Of the number and condition of the laborers at Beaufort, 
less accurate information was attainable, and fewer statistics 
than could be desired. They have not, till within a few 
days, had a General Superintendent, but have been under the 
charge of persons detailed for the purpose from the army. 
I saw one whose manner and language toward them was, to 
say the least, not elevating. A new Quartermaster of the 
post has recently commenced his duties, and a better order of 
things is expected. He has appointed as Superintendent Mr. 
Wm. Harding, a citizen of Daufuskie Island. An enrollment 
has commenced, but is not yet finished. There are supposed 
to be about six hundred at Beaufort. The number has been 
larger, but some have already returned to the plantations in 
our possession from which they came. At this point, the 
Bev. Solomon Peck, of Boxbury, Mass., has done great good 
in preaching to them and protecting them from the depreda- 
tions of white men. He has established a school for the chil- 
dren, in which are sixty pupils, ranging in age from six to 
fifteen years. They are rapidly learning their letters and 
simple reading. The teachers are of the same race with 
the taught, of ages respectively of twenty, thirty, and fifty 
years. The name of one js John Milton. A visit to the 
school leaves a remarkable impression. One sees there those 
of pure African blood, and others ranging through the lighter 
shades, and among them brunettes of the fairest features. I 
taught several of the children their letters for an hour or two, 
and during the recess heard the three teachers, at their own 
request, recite their spelling-lessons of words of one syllable, 
and read two chapters of Matthew. It seemed to be a morn- 



WB 1 a 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 33 

ing well spent. Nor have tlie efforts of Dr. Peck been con- 
fined to this point. He has preached at Cat, Cano and 
Ladies' Island, anticipating all other white clergymen, and 
on Sunday, February 2d, at the Baptist Church on St. Helena, 
to a large congregation, where his ministrations have been 
attended with excellent effects. On my visits to St. Helena, 
I found that no white clergyman had been there since our 
military occupation began, that the laborers were waiting for 
one, and there was a demoralization at some points which 
timely words might arrest. I may be permitted to state, that 
it was at my own suggestion that he made the appointment 
on this island. I cannot forbear to give a moment's testi- 
mony to the nobility of character displayed by this venerable 
man. Of mild and genial temperament, equally earnest and 
sensible, enjoying the fruits of culture, and yet not dissuaded 
by them from the humblest toil, having reached an age when 
most others would have declined the duty, and left it to be 
discharged by younger men; of narrow ffieans, and yet in 
the main defraying his own expenses, this man of apostolic 
faith and life, to whose labors both hemispheres bear witness, 
left his- home to guide and comfort this poor and shepherdless 
flock ; and to him belongs, and ever will belong, the distin- 
guished honor of being the first minister of Christ to enter 
the field which our arms had opened. 

The Rev. Mansfield French, whose mission was authen- 
ticated and approved by the Government, prompted by be- 
nevolent purposes of his own, and in conference with others 
in the city of New York, has been here two weeks, during 
which time he has been industriously occupied in examining 
the state of the islands and their population, in conferring 
with the authorities, and laying the foundation of beneficent 
appliances with reference to their moral, educational, and 
material wants. These, having received the sanction of ofii- 
cers in command, he now returns to commend to the public, 
and the Grovernment will derive important information from 
his report. Beside other things, he proposes, with the ap- 
proval of the authorities here, to secure authority to intro- 
duce women of suitable experience and ability, who shall 
give industrial instruction to those of their own sex among 
these people, and who, visiting from dwelling to dwelling, 
shall strive to improve their household life, and give such 



34: THE NEGROES AT PORT ROYAL. 

counsels as women can best communicate to women. All 
civilizing influences like these should be welcomed here, and 
it cannot be doubted that many noble hearts among the 
women of -the land will volunteer for the service. 

There are some material wants of this territory requiring 
immediate attention. The means of subsistence have been 
pretty well preserved on the plantations on St. Helena ; so 
also on that part of Ladies' adjacent to St. Helena. But ou 
Port Royal Island, and that part of Ladies' near to it, desti- 
tution has commenced, and will, unless provision is made, be- 
come very great. Large amounts of corn for forage, in 
quantities from fifty to four or five hundred bushels from a 
plantation, have been taken to Beaufort. On scarcely any 
within this district is there enough to last beyond April, 
whereas it is needed till August.- On others, it will last only 
two or three weeks, and on some it is entirely exhausted. It 
is stated that the forage was taken because no adequate sup- 
ply was at hand,4ind requisitions for it were not seasonably 
answered. The further taking of the corn in this way has 
now been forbidden ; but the Government must be prepared 
to meet the exigency which it has itself created. It should 
be remembered that this is not a grain-exporting region, corn 
being produced in moderate crops only for consumption. 
Similar destitution will take place on other islands, from the 
same cause, unless provision is made. 

The horses, mules and oxen, in large numbers, have been 
taken to Beaufort and Hilton Head as means of transporta- 
tion. It is presumed that they, or most of them, are no 
longer needed for that purpose, and that they will be re- 
turned to those who shall have charge of the plantations. 
Cattle to the number of a hundred, and in some cases less, 
have been taken from a plantation and slaughtered, to furnish 
fresh beef for the army. Often cattle have been killed by 
irresponsible foraging parties, acting without competent au- 
thority. There can be no doubt that the army and navy 
have been in great want of the variation of the rations of 
salt beef or pork; but it also deserves much consideration, if 
the plantations are to be permanently worked, how much of a 
draught they can sustain. 

The garden seeds have been pretty well used up, and I 
inclose a desirable list furnished me by a gentleman whose 



H 



a 



REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT. 35 

experience enables him to designate those adapted to the soil, 
and useful too for army supplies. The general cultivation 
of the islands also requires the sending of a quantity of 
ploughs and hoes. 

It did not seem a part of my duty to look specially after 
matters which had been safely entrusted to others ; but it is 
pleasing, from such observation as was casually made, to tes- 
tify that Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Keynolds, who was 
charged with the preservation of the cotton and other con- 
fiscated property, notwithstanding many difficulties in his 
way, has fulfilled his duties with singular fidelity and success. 

Since the writing of this report was commenced, some 
action has been taken which will largely increase the num- 
bers of persons thrown on the protection of the Government. 
To-day, February 10th, the 47th Regiment New York Vol- 
unteers has been ordered to take military occupation of North 
Edisto Island, which is stated to have had formerly a popula- 
tion of 5000 or 6000, and a large number of plantations, 
a movement which involves great additional responsibility. 
Agents for the collection of cotton are to accompany it. 

Herewith is communicated a copy of an order by General 
Sherman, dated February 6th, 1862, relative to the disposi- 
tion of the plantations and of their occupants. It is an evi- 
dence of the deep interest which the Commanding General 
takes in this subject, and of his conviction that the exigency 
requires prompt and immediate action from the Government. 

I leave for Washington, to add any oral exj^lanations which 
may be desired, expecting to return at once, and, with the 
permission of the Department, to organize the laborers on 
some one plantation, and superintend them during the plant- 
ing season, and upon its close, business engagements require 
that I should be relieved of this appointment. 

I am, with great respect, 

Your friend and servant, 

EDWARD L. PIERCE. 



3G APPEAL OF THE EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION. 

EDUGATIOl^'AL OOMMISSIOIT. 



The Committee on Teachers and on Finance would call the atten- 
tion of the friends of the Commission to the importance of additional 
subscription to its funds. 

There are at Port Eoyal and other places, many thousands of 
colored persons, lately slaves, who are now under the protection 
of the U. S. Government. They are a well-disposed people, ready 
to work, and eager to learn. With a moderate amount of well- 
directed, systematic labor, tliey would very soon be able to raise 
crops more tlian sufficient for their own support. But they need 
aid and guidance in their first steps towards the condition of self- 
supporting, independent laborers. 

It is the o,bjcct of the Commission to give them this aid, by 
sending out, as agents, intelligent and benevolent persons, who shall 
instruct and care for them. These agents are called teachers, but 
their teaching will by no means be confined to intellectual instruc- 
tion. It will include all the more important and fundamental lessons 
of civilization, — voluntary industry, self-reliance, frugality, fore- 
thought, honesty and truthfulness, cleanliness and order. With 
these will be combined intellectual, moral and religious instruction. 

The plan is approved by the U. S. Government, and Mr. Ed- 
ward L. Pierce, the Special Agent of the Treasury Department, 
is authorized to accept the services of the agents of this Commis- 
sion, and to provide for them transportation, quarters and subsistence. 
Their salaries are paid by the Commission. 

More than one hundred and fifty applications have been received 
by the Committee ofi Teachers, and thirty-five able and efficient 
persons have been selected. Twenty -nine of these sailed for Port 
Royal in the Atlantic, on the 3d instant. Three were already actively 
employed at that place, and the others are to follow by the next 
steamer. Some of these are volunteers, who gratuitously devote 
their time and labor to this cause. Others receive a monthly salary 
from the Commission. 

The funds in the treasury, derived from voluntary and almost 
unsolicited contributions, are sufficient to support those now in ser- 
vice for two or three months. But the Commission is as j^et only on 
the threshold of its undertaking. It is stated by ]\Ir. Pierce that 
at least one hundred and fifty teachers could be advantageously 
employed in the vicinity of Port Royal alone. 

Subscriptions may be sent to Mr. Wu-liam Endicott, Jr., 
Treasurer, No. 33 Summer street, or to either of the Committee 
on Finance. 

George B. Emerson, Edward Atkinson, 
Le Baron Russell, Martin Brimmer, 

LORING LOTHROP, WiLLIAM EnDICOTT, Jr., 

Charles F. Barnard, James T. Fisher, 

H. F. Stea'enson, William I. Bowditch, 

Coinmttee on Teachers. Committee on Fina7ice, 

Boston, March 14, 1862. 



























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